Like this:

Dallas has a couple of great fabric warehouses, and every year I look forward to blowing huge amounts of money visiting them. Today, on the whimiest of whims, I abandoned my traditional post-faire sleepathon and went a-fabric shopping. I got almost everything I need for the Grape Fairies, with the exception of the fabric for the waist cinchers I’ve only just decided I’m building in place of corsets.

Ta-da!

I am shit at taking pictures.

I decided pretty early on that the fabric and trim would need to be identical except for the color. That turned out to be easy for the matte base layer (a very simple cotton, not pictured b/c yawn) and the sheer outer layer (which was unmarked at the store but is definitely poly and might be organza or possibly chiffon, I don’t really know and neither do I care because it was cheap as hell), but not so easy for the trim. After an hour in the trim room, I came away with 3/4″ grossgrain ribbon and simple braided trim to go with/over it, both in pale pink and hunter green. Not really what I wanted, but once I get over my disappointment I will be happy with it. I wanted a really rich reddish purple, but all they had was basically neon, so I swallowed my tears and went with green for the red wine, reasoning that grapes have green leaves. Totally makes sense. I’m planning to use the ribbon for most of the trim, as it was thirty cents a yard and I bought a thousand billion yards of it. Some decorative stitching in contrasting colors will do a lot to liven it up. Also, pearls. Because handsewing can be done on the couch and is therefore The Best.

I left the pattern I’m planning to use at home, so now I have to figure out whether it’s cheaper to have it mailed to me or just get a new one. Waiting until I visit home in two weeks isn’t really an option, I don’t think; I need to have these basically done by the time I go home for good (about 6 weeks from now). Plus, I need time to stitch on those pearls, and make the headdresses, and paint the wings. So. To the postoffice, mr. biscuit!

Like this:

Sorry for the radio silence. I wish I had a good excuse, like “I was building economically and environmentally sustainable houses for impoverished families,” but in truth, I’ve been spending most of my time scouring all of the TV channels for reruns of 30 Rock, which I recently discovered is pee-causingly hilarious.

Anyway, pictures are rolling in, among them a couple of good shots of the costume I worked on for a jillion years only to eventually tire of and give up on. Allow me to share with you both pictures and technical details!

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I finished the cape. Last week. Two weeks behind schedule. BUT! It’s finished. The red linen-look and the yellow backing look a little like ketchup and mustard together. I’m not entirely sure why, but I like it. It’s vivid, and if there’s one thing I like, it’s vividness. And Ewan McGregor and Christian Bale making love on a rooftop covered in glitter. But that’s not particularly relevant to the discussion, is it? I should post a picture of the cape, I suppose. I’ll do that later.

So now I’m working on the shirts (because I always have two sets of body linens). I’m using the Elizabethan Smock Pattern Generator*, which I have not used before. I loved it before I cut a single piece of fabric, though, because it has no curved seams.

No curved seams!

I am terrible at and hate cutting and sewing curves, so this is pretty much awesome. So far it’s been pretty easy, and had I not been busy live-tweeting my rewatch of Battlestar Galactica, I suspect I would have finished in a few hours, rather than the several days it has taken me. But I’m busy live-tweeting my rewatch of Battlestar Galactica, which is clearly important, so I’m not sorry. I will be in a few weeks when I’m a month behind schedule, but I’m not known for my foresight.

For the shirts, I got a bunch of birdseye cotton. I was on a sample-ordering-binge a couple of months ago, and of all the cottons I got, I liked the birdseye the best. It’s sort and absorbent, it dries quickly, and it looks and feels nicer than the printed cotton I usually get. It was also super cheap! Come to find out, it’s diaper cloth. For cloth diapers. And it only comes in 27″ width. Well…ok! I ordered seven times** the fabric I normally would*** and went to town. So far it’s a little hard to cut, though I may have confused the paper scissors for the fabric scissors again, and a little fray…y, but it feels really nice, it has good body to it, and I like it. If the pattern works out (it seems to be good so far–I’m nearly done), I’m going to be super, super happy. But then I’ll no longer have any reason to put off the corsetry. So.

*It’s by the same people who brought us the Custom Corset Pattern Generator, which I’ve used multiple times to good effect
**hyperbole
***which means seventy times the amount normal people would order, since I always panic and over-buy

RESCU
A non-profit organization established to promote and maintain the health and medical well-being of the participants of Renaissance Faires, historical performances and other artistic events through financial assistance, advocacy, education and preventative